Art education in the early years :)

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Volume, Mass, and 3-Dimensionality

Shapes are flat. If you take a shape and give it three dimensions, it hasvolume.Volume(three-dimensionality) can be simulated in a two-dimensional work (like a painting).

Imagine a drawing of a glass. The drawing would be flat (two-dimensional), but it would look like it was three-dimensional (simulated or impliedvolume).

Now, Imagine that glass filled with water. The glass hasmass, or density.

Imagine three containers. The first one is empty (filled with air); it hasvolume.The second container is filled with feathers. Now the container hasdensity,ormass.The third container is filled with sand. The third container has greaterdensitythan the second one.

This self portrait by Rembrandt is an example of simulated, or impliedvolume. The face looks three-dimensional. In actuality, however, it is a two-dmensional (flat) artwork, a print.